hobbyhorse23
Well-Known Member
6/3/11: Pix added on second page, see new post
Step 1: Harness your very dominant senior gelding.
Step 2: Harness your barely 3 year old, never had a full harness on, only started ground-driving last week baby.
Step 3: Connect the two harnesses. Don't forget to stand back and try to take pictures!
Extra points if you do this at dinner time as the bugs come out and the temperature drops.
Okay, so I'm not that bad. First of all I've got some tandem experience so I knew what went where, how to correctly get it there and the safety principles to follow. Second, I had a header before attaching the two horses and was right there prepared for trouble myself. The two boys were AWESOME though, I was really impressed and wanted to share because the more they tolerated the more I realized just how risky hitching up a tandem on a whim with ill-prepared horses could be.
Turbo was quite interested in the harnessing process and hardly fussed as I girthed him, pulled the breastcollar over his head, did up the crupper and secured all the dangling straps. (Keep in mind he's had a crupper and blinkers on maybe twice in his life?) Kody of course knew what was going on and waited patiently in the leader harness while I got the kid geared up. I untied Kody and put him on a Whoa, Stand in front of T with Mom heading him then got everything attached. I have to give the boys total credit- the worst that happened was Turbo (still tied) trying to walk off and circle the post to the right which pulled the breastcollar around on his neck and tangled him in the traces a little bit. He stopped when I said "whoa," seemed to immediately get that he couldn't do that and backed easily back into place where he then stood politely for the remainder of our experiment. Kody, for his part, stood like a rock when the traces went tight and tried to pull him over.
Turbo did get bored and start nibbling on the leader traces once or twice but I could not believe how good he was about having the leader reins run through the roger rings over his blinkers. The kid's barely gotten used to wearing his own reins and here he was with someone else's going over his eyes and except for a startled look he was an angel! His main reaction was to freeze and swivel his ears in confusion then relax completely when I praised him and go back to looking curious. At one point he got the end of the leader reins caught up around a hind foot (they fell out of his backstrap) and he was completely unbothered. Normally 4 times out of 6 I can't get blanket legstraps on this horse without dodging a flying foot but get harness involved and suddenly he was all business.
While unharnessing I took a chance and pulled the leader reins out of the roger rings while standing in front of Turbo (veeeerrry slowly) and was pleased to see that even with blinkers on all he did was freeze and "listen" carefully to the feel of the reins slithering over his body and then the view of them suddenly falling free in front of his face. I give him major credit for that!
Kody was awesome and patient and clearly interested in the proceedings as well so I have hopes that if carefully introduced he will decide this is a Driving Thing (rather than a Turbo Thing) and take it with his customary positive attitude towards anything driving-related.
Things I would not have even tried on a tandem harness without: Solid Whoa, Stands on both horses. Desensitization to straps EVERYWHERE on both horses. Leader MUST NOT be jumpy about sounds behind blinkers. Wheeler MUST be calm about getting tangled up- preferred reaction is to whoa and wait for me to get him out of it. Voice command obedience on both horses- preferably extending to moving individual feet forward and back and pricking ears for the camera.
They're already getting pretty good at differentiating who I'm talking to, which is important.
Things I would like to see solid before actually driving tandem: Turbo needs to continue his "Whoa, Stand" work until he'll stand like a rock without the steadying influence of the leadline even when cold or excited. Obviously he needs to learn to pull and stop the cart and be confirmed in sitting on the breeching no matter what's happening. Kody needs more ground-driving work on not spinning but I think having traces attached will help with that; he only spins when he feels no steadying influence along his sides. I've already been leading the boys together in a line but I need to put in the legwork on leading them together in blinker bridles and reinforcing that Kody must NEVER kick even if Turbo blunders into him. I also want a few more months establishing that just because we pick up a little speed, they aren't to be racing each other.
We're finally getting that when being trotted side-by-side and Turbo seemed to get it when being ponied the other day- no more trying to race up alongside Kody and bite him like he did when he was still a stallion.
Overall I was very pleased however and think we're well on our way to being a tandem and pair! Pictures, as always, are on my FB page.
Leia
P.S.- Had to laugh- I had the boys at the chiro the other day getting checked out prior to starting harder work and they've now started spontaneously grooming each other. All I have to do is reach out and scratch Kody's withers and he whips around and starts scratching Turbo, who immediately sidles up and starts scratching Kody back!
I can get a line going at the trailer...I groom Kody, Kody grooms Turbo up ahead of him, Turbo grooms the trailer for lack of other options.
Step 1: Harness your very dominant senior gelding.
Step 2: Harness your barely 3 year old, never had a full harness on, only started ground-driving last week baby.
Step 3: Connect the two harnesses. Don't forget to stand back and try to take pictures!
Extra points if you do this at dinner time as the bugs come out and the temperature drops.
Okay, so I'm not that bad. First of all I've got some tandem experience so I knew what went where, how to correctly get it there and the safety principles to follow. Second, I had a header before attaching the two horses and was right there prepared for trouble myself. The two boys were AWESOME though, I was really impressed and wanted to share because the more they tolerated the more I realized just how risky hitching up a tandem on a whim with ill-prepared horses could be.
Turbo was quite interested in the harnessing process and hardly fussed as I girthed him, pulled the breastcollar over his head, did up the crupper and secured all the dangling straps. (Keep in mind he's had a crupper and blinkers on maybe twice in his life?) Kody of course knew what was going on and waited patiently in the leader harness while I got the kid geared up. I untied Kody and put him on a Whoa, Stand in front of T with Mom heading him then got everything attached. I have to give the boys total credit- the worst that happened was Turbo (still tied) trying to walk off and circle the post to the right which pulled the breastcollar around on his neck and tangled him in the traces a little bit. He stopped when I said "whoa," seemed to immediately get that he couldn't do that and backed easily back into place where he then stood politely for the remainder of our experiment. Kody, for his part, stood like a rock when the traces went tight and tried to pull him over.
Turbo did get bored and start nibbling on the leader traces once or twice but I could not believe how good he was about having the leader reins run through the roger rings over his blinkers. The kid's barely gotten used to wearing his own reins and here he was with someone else's going over his eyes and except for a startled look he was an angel! His main reaction was to freeze and swivel his ears in confusion then relax completely when I praised him and go back to looking curious. At one point he got the end of the leader reins caught up around a hind foot (they fell out of his backstrap) and he was completely unbothered. Normally 4 times out of 6 I can't get blanket legstraps on this horse without dodging a flying foot but get harness involved and suddenly he was all business.
Kody was awesome and patient and clearly interested in the proceedings as well so I have hopes that if carefully introduced he will decide this is a Driving Thing (rather than a Turbo Thing) and take it with his customary positive attitude towards anything driving-related.
Things I would not have even tried on a tandem harness without: Solid Whoa, Stands on both horses. Desensitization to straps EVERYWHERE on both horses. Leader MUST NOT be jumpy about sounds behind blinkers. Wheeler MUST be calm about getting tangled up- preferred reaction is to whoa and wait for me to get him out of it. Voice command obedience on both horses- preferably extending to moving individual feet forward and back and pricking ears for the camera.
Things I would like to see solid before actually driving tandem: Turbo needs to continue his "Whoa, Stand" work until he'll stand like a rock without the steadying influence of the leadline even when cold or excited. Obviously he needs to learn to pull and stop the cart and be confirmed in sitting on the breeching no matter what's happening. Kody needs more ground-driving work on not spinning but I think having traces attached will help with that; he only spins when he feels no steadying influence along his sides. I've already been leading the boys together in a line but I need to put in the legwork on leading them together in blinker bridles and reinforcing that Kody must NEVER kick even if Turbo blunders into him. I also want a few more months establishing that just because we pick up a little speed, they aren't to be racing each other.
Overall I was very pleased however and think we're well on our way to being a tandem and pair! Pictures, as always, are on my FB page.
Leia
P.S.- Had to laugh- I had the boys at the chiro the other day getting checked out prior to starting harder work and they've now started spontaneously grooming each other. All I have to do is reach out and scratch Kody's withers and he whips around and starts scratching Turbo, who immediately sidles up and starts scratching Kody back!
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